We are multicultural, multilingual educators with
years of combined expertise in music workshops, language teaching and stage production.
New Native founder Mercedes Arias-Duval discovered her love of multi-lingual communication as a child in Miami, USA, The bilingual English-Spanish culture permeated all aspects of her education. She learned to communicate in the Spanish of her parents (Argentinian) and the Spanish of her ballet and music teachers (Cuban), while English was the principal language throughout her entire education. She completed the British GCSE and International Baccalaureate diplomas, adding a further layer to her arsenal of accents and cultures, at the International School of Milan.
Switching between school curriculums, countries and languages shaped her perspective on language learning as a path from understanding and repeating new words to full integration of a system of meaning.
The idea of language as systems of meaning was the subject for her thesis at the prestigious Trinity College, University of Dublin, where she graduated with a double-honours degree in English Studies and Drama.
After teaching English in Spain for several years, Mercedes went on to work in instructional design and tech writer at a number of fast-scaling startups.
Outside office hours she ha dedicated her time to music workshops for kids and theatrical production.
Her vision for New Native is to provide language experiences that mimic cultural immersion through the power of play and imagination, leveraging technology to scale the I-xpress method to users worldwide.
New Native is expanding our team of expert collaborators in music, sensory theater, language learning and childhood education.